Mother of three kids killed in house fire flown to Perth for specialist care

The mother of three children who died in a horror WA house fire this week has been flown to Perth for specialist care as police continue their investigations.

The mother of three children who died in a horror Western Australia house fire this week has been flown to Perth for specialist care.

The bodies of the children – aged 10, 7, and 5 months old – were discovered inside their Anderson St home in Port Hedland, 1500km north of Perth, around 4.45pm on Tuesday after firefighters fought back raging flames.

The children are believed to have been in a bedroom and unable to open the door when the fire took hold.

WA Acting Deputy Commissioner Allan Adams said the children’s mother, Margaret Hawke, was being questioned by police.

Ms Hawke, who was under sedation on Wednesday as homicide detectives flew in from Perth to speak with her, is believed to have sustained injuries during the fire.

As of Thursday evening no charges had been laid.

The children, aged 10, 7, and 5 months old, were found dead in a house fire in Port Hedland, Picture: Supplied

Pilbara District Police Superintendent Kim Massam reported that she remained at the Hedland Health Campus on Thursday afternoon and was continuing to assist police with investigations.

Labelling the event “tragic” and ”unprecedented,” he said police were “very concerned about the mental health of our community”.

“To have three children perish in a fire, I’ve never had that in my experience, and it’s a terrible, terrible thing to have occurred,” he said.

Several neighbours are believed to have rushed to the children’s aid as the blaze took hold, including neighbour Jess, who went to investigate the fire after noticing “what we thought was dust”.

“The mother that was out in the driveway … she said her babies were in there,” Jess told The West Australian.

The concerned neighbour said she went into the house to try to find the children but was not able to reach them.

“We had to get out, the smoke was too much … you could feel the heat and everything was cracking around us pretty much,” she said.

Superintendent Massam was not able to confirm the children’s cause of death.

Margaret Hawke, mother of the three children killed in a Port Hedland fire, was under sedation on Wednesday as detectives flew in from Perth. Picture: Facebook

Ms Hawke’s Facebook page showed her love and dedication to her children.

“For my family I will do the best I can,” she wrote in one post.

In another, she posted a photo of her five-month-old son captioned: “Mummy‘s Baby Boy sleepy now after his din-din. still waiting for his big brother and sister to get bk home!!”

A family member, who did not want to be identified, said Ms Hawke hugged and kissed her children as she picked them up from school on Tuesday, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

“She is gentle, loving, kind and great with the kids, a good mum,” they said.

Port Hedland elder Patricia Mason said extended family in the small, tight-knit community were mourning the tragic loss and had requested privacy.

“They are taking it extremely hard, they have to come to terms with losing three children,” she said.

“They don’t know what happened and they don’t know how it happened.

Ms Hawke was described as being a loving mother. Picture: Supplied

The loss of the three children has reverberated through the community. Picture: Supplied

“It will be a long grieving process.”

The children’s fathers have been notified of their death.

Department of Communities acting regional executive director Sally Kirk said her team was working with the “strong and large family” to provide support, adding that they had requested privacy.

“They’re going through the most difficult time that you could imagine,” she said.

Mr Adams said police were working to determine what started the fire, which occurred at the state-owned, single-storey property, just down the road from the regional town’s centre.

He declined to comment on where in the house the children’s bodies were found or whether the mother was home at the time.

The oldest of the children to be killed in the fire was 10 and was described as being full of potential. Picture: Supplied

“I don’t propose to go into the details of the family background at this time,” Mr Adams said.

“(We will) deconstruct all the events leading up to the fire.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan described the incident as a “terrible tragedy”.

“Our thoughts go to them but also all those people affected, their family and the first responders,” he said.

The Port Hedland property. Picture: Nine News Perth

Port Hedland Mayor Peter Carter said the small community was in shock after the “gut-wrenching” incident.

“It’s just tragic, you don’t wish this on a family,” he told The West Australian on Wednesday morning.

“All I can say is Hedland is a beautiful community and they will get behind this family in every way they can and support them,” he said.

Superintendent Massam said WA Police and the WA Department of Communities were offering support to anyone impacted by the incident.

“We‘re standing at the ready to provide support to the family and the community,” he said.

“We’re here to help.”

Originally published as Mother of three kids killed in house fire flown to Perth for specialist care